Begin At The Beginning
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Jacob Jensen's first day at his new high school starts out on a bad note. Cougar/Jensen, plus canon couples
1. Chapter 1

Begin At The Beginning

_** I get to blame HI MY NAME IS uncool for this! It's all her fault! Ugh, this is still a work on progress and I don't know how out of control this is going to get before it's finished, but I'll try to update regularly. Recognizable characters aren't mine, reviews are much loved and make me write faster, and please enjoy!**_

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**Chapter 1**

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Jacob Jensen's first day at his new high school starts out on a bad note.

His sister's new baby, now all of two months old, kept them up all night with her screaming and fussing. He can't even be mad about it - since she's a baby after all, and she has that really obnoxiously adorable thing going for her – but he's basically dead on his feet and he's not even in the building yet.

He collides with someone – a rather preppy looking fellow with designer clothes and really expensive looking sunglasses – on his way in the door and receives a biting, "Watch where you're going, geek," in response to his unintended actions. But he just shrugs and keeps walking.

The only thing keeping him going at all are the headphones that are half on his ears. "_Ooh, the flood is threatenin' my very life today… Gimme, gimme shelter – I'm gonna fade away…_" He hums out the familiar lines of the Rolling Stones song as he heads toward his newly assigned locker and spins in the combination. 20, 34, 20.

Unfortunately, the locker marks the end of the music so he braces himself for what will inevitable be pure exhaustion by the end of first period and trudges off to his first class of the day – Biology.

He slips into the room after navigating the complex maze of hallways with surprising ease and finds all but one seat claimed. Second row, far side of the room. Silently, he crosses the room, adjusting his glasses and fidgeting nervously as curious eyes land on him.

"Hi." He says to his neighbor as he claims the seat. Beside him sits a boy his age, who pointedly ignores him but does take a moment to survey his neon yellow 'International Order of Gorillas' t-shirt. The guy makes some noncommittal noise and turns away, tilting the edge of his cowboy hat down over his eyes. Why is he even wearing the thing in here, anyway? "I'm Jake Jensen." He says, because he never does know when to shut up. "I just moved here and I hope you don't mind me sitting here but it was the only seat and are you ignoring me on purpose or-"

The stranger turns to level him with a glare that very, very obviously says '_shut up now or else,'_ and then he's back to ignoring Jake again.

Any continuations of his lengthy diatribe are permanently killed off when the teacher walks in. Had Jake not already met up with all of his teachers, he might've been worried when she started rattling on about an upcoming test.

"And, Mr. Jensen, if you need any help, I'm sure Mr. Alvarez there would be glad to catch you up before Friday." She says, gesturing to the boy with the long, dark hair and the cowboy hat beside him. "Isn't that right?"

"Mm." The boy, last name Alvarez, grunts in acknowledgment.

"Good, then, if that's settled, I suppose we can get back to DNA transcription and translation, yes?" With that, she turns to the board, chalk in hand, and sets to work on the lesson for today.

Fifty minutes later, the bell rings, and the other boy bolts as soon as it does, leaving Jensen with several questions (none of which actually have anything to do with biology) and no answers.

His next two classes are uneventful – English, which he finds incredibly boring because he's already read the book they're discussing, and Math, which he flies through with ease since his love for all things computer related tends to require it.

By lunch, his eyes are drooping and he's near ready to fall asleep in his food. His headphones are back in place, this time with the Eagles playing rather loudly. "_On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair…_" Singing lightly under his breath, he feels something kind of like fractionally more awake so he lifts his head enough to look around the large cafeteria. "_Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air…"_

Across the room, he spots the boy from his biology class sitting with two others, a guy and a girl. Alvarez – he really needs to find out a first name – is staring at him. Rather, observing, as one might do with a potentially volatile chemical or a suspicious website.

Jake Jensen, in all his bravery, raises a hand, waves. Alvarez rolls his eyes and looks away.

The bell rings again what seems like mere minutes after he sat down, but the whole thirty minutes has indeed passed by. So he gets up and trashes his stuff, intent to visit his locker again before heading to gym.

His brief stop to switch his books and drop off his music makes him late, but he's saved by the fact that he doesn't have to change his clothes because his gym uniform hasn't come in just yet. "We're playing a game of dodge-ball, so if you're up for it, feel free to join in." The coach says, waving him off toward the already gathered class.

Jensen freezes when he spots the cowboy-hatted figure amongst the players – and seriously, does he get to wear the thing everywhere? They're on the same team, and while the rest of the players on his side introduce themselves, Alvarez says nothing.

"Ready, guys?"

The game starts with all the brutal force two dozen teenage boys would be expected to use. There are three balls in play, and Alvarez gets one nearly immediately. Somehow he takes out two guys on the opposing team with it. And, yes, Jake is watching him more than he's watching the game.

Which is exactly the reason why it takes him so goddamn long to see the ball hurtling toward his head. With well-practiced skill, because Jacob Jensen is way more than just the geek everyone sees him as, he dodges out of the way, catches the ball and hurls it back at the guy who'd thrown it and gets him out.

"Woo! Nice!" One other guy calls at him – he'd introduced himself as 'Linwood Porteous, but call me Pooch or we'll have issues' - and he claps Jake on the back as he runs after another ball. "Cougar, catch!" Pooch yells at Alvarez. Cougar. Hm. That's new.

Jake turns to grin at his teammates, who all seem impressed by the fact that he is not completely useless.

"Hey! Head's up!" Someone shouts at him, he doesn't know who, because he's too busy ducking, but it doesn't matter anyway, because the bouncing, red ball clubs him in the back of the head despite his efforts to evade it again. His glasses fall off of his face and he hears an all too familiar sound as they hit the ground. Broken, then. And his head is pounding.

He turns to ineffectively glare at the offender who'd hit him – entirely fairly, since he was the idiot who'd turned his back on the game, and then that's the entire point, isn't it? - But still, his glasses…

"Jensen." The coach snaps at him, and gestures him over – a move which Jake has to squint to see correctly from across the huge room. "Go get your head checked out." He says, and points the kid out of the gym before he can injure himself further.

The remnants of his glasses in hand, he blindly heads off to do as told, navigating carefully through the locker room to head toward the maze of hallways that somewhere hide the nurse's office. "Awesome job, Jake. Wonderful job. Break your glasses on day one. Perfect. Hm… Did I bring my spare pair?" He rambles to himself as he walks.

Somewhere just behind him, he hears someone exhale deeply, as if sighing in irritation. He whirls around to see Alvarez.

"Never quiet, are you, _Payasito_?" A thick Spanish accent carries the words to him from some distance away.

"Cougar, yeah?"

He shrugs, nods his head towards the next hallway and marches on, obviously expecting Jake to follow him to the nurse's office. Whether Coach sent him or he came by himself, Jensen is not inclined to complain, so he follows.

Maybe today isn't so bad after all, thinks Jacob Jensen.


	2. Chapter 2

Begin At The Beginning

_** I get to blame HI MY NAME IS uncool for this! It's all her fault! Ugh, this is still a work on progress and I don't know how out of control this is going to get before it's finished, but I'll try to update regularly. Recognizable characters aren't mine, reviews are much loved and make me write faster, and please enjoy!**_

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**Chapter 2  
**

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Jacob Jensen's second day at his new school is an entirely differently story.

He hasn't even left the house yet and he already knows that it's shaping up to be a bad day. His spare glasses are old and the prescription is just a little off of normal and they're giving him a headache but he can deal with that. Baby Katie was up all night again – she… really likes being up all night – and so Jensen really didn't get much of any sleep at all.

His sister comes home from work just as he's leaving for school – which is spectacularly good timing – and she's just as grumpy and sleep deprived as he is, but there's not really anything that can be done about it.

"See ya later, Becca," he calls as he ducks out the front door, his backpack slung over his shoulder and his headphones half covering his ears as always.

As he runs – not walks – the few blocks to the high school, Jensen quietly sings along to today's soundtrack. "_Well, I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' on. You'll forget about me after I've been gone. And I take what I find, I don't want no more, it's just outside of your front door..._"

Without even really looking, he spots a certain cowboy hat amongst the crowd of students heading into the building. He tries to worm his way through the crowds of students rushing into class, but he loses Cougar in the chaos. Which, Jensen tells himself, doesn't matter, because he wasn't following the other boy. Really. Seriously.

But Cougar can't avoid him, if that's even what he's trying to do, in Biology and Jensen promptly claims the spot next to him just in case it was pure happenstance yesterday that said seat was open. "Hi. So, um, I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out yesterday, you really didn't have to…"

His rant only stops because Cougar snorts at him. Rather, at his shirt, a half-smirk on his face as he turns away shaking his head. Jensen looks down at his awesome shirt – blue today, with a picture of a pixelated orca whale with the caption: "A wizard has turned you into a whale. Is this awesome (Y/N)?"

"Thanks, man. Glad you approve." He grins, and decides that he will now make it his personal mission to amuse Cougar with his really epic t-shirts for as long as he possibly can. "So, scale of one to ten, how hard is th-"

It seems people enjoy interrupting him when he tries to break the silence in this class because now there is someone leering at him over Cougar's shoulder, arms crossed and eyebrows raised in impatience. "Ahem." The stranger says. "I believe you're in my seat."

Jensen frowns. He likes his seat by Cougar and he certainly doesn't want to give it up to the jerk he bumped into yesterday who'd called him a geek. "I… ugh, I'm sorry. I didn't..." He shuffles his books around, tries to stall for time.

"Stay, _Payasito_." Cougar says, as he turns to face the other boy. He says nothing, just levels the preppily dressed boy with an icy look for a long moment.

With one final incredulous huff, the intruder storms off to claim a seat in the back of the room.

"What… Wait. What just happened? Did you just _stare _that guy into walking away?"

"_Si._"

From there, in all fairness, his day does get a little better. The biology review kills any worries he might have had about the contents of the upcoming exam, and with those fears quelled, he heads off to English – more about the same book he's already read – and then to Math – which he flies through as per usual.

Before he even knows it, it's lunch, and he's got The Who playing in his ears as he's heading for the same empty and remote table he'd sat at yesterday. Following one truly amazing air drum solo, he hums out the lyrics of 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. "_We'll be fighting in the streets, with our children at our feet… And the morals that they worship will be gone…"_ And before he gets any further than that, there's someone walking next to him.

It's Cougar, who catches his arm and silently leads him over to the table across the room where he's sitting with Pooch and some as-of-yet unnamed girl who turns out to be Jolene, his girlfriend.

"Hey. Jensen, right?" Pooch smiles, switching seats so that Cougar and the newcomer can sit together on the bench. "How's your head?"

"My head's fine. Glasses, however, they weren't so lucky."

"That sucks. But, man, you shoulda seen what Cougar did to the dude that hit you. I've never seen him throw-" Pooch flinches, as if someone might have kicked him under the table. "Ow, man. What the hell?" He turns to stare at Cougar but gets only a glare in return. He shakes his head. "Nevermind, then."

Jensen doesn't quite know what to make of such a statement, given that Pooch revealed enough to give away what had happened – Cougar had taken out the guy who'd hit him before he'd followed after Jensen – and so it's only fair that his mind is wandering when Jolene tries to get his attention.

"Huh?" Is his totally coherent response.

"That… wouldn't be awesome." Pooch cuts in, and it takes Jake a moment to realize he's referring to his shirt. "Like, at all."

"I have to agree." Jolene adds. "You boys meeting up with Clay, Aisha, and Roque after school?"

"Far as I know, we are." Pooch says, and Cougar nods in the affirmative before he looks to Jensen in invitation.

"Sorry, I can't do anything afterschool. I'm babysitting my niece." He explains, and as much as he loves and adores the little baby girl, this is the first time he kind of wishes he didn't have to watch her.

Pooch shrugs and Cougar hides a frown that Jensen barley sees. "Maybe another time, then."

Jensen decides not to tell them that he'll be babysitting after-school for what is probably forever. "Yeah."

Lunch is over and the bell is ringing way too soon and after a very quick stop off at Jensen's locker – and he's going to have to stop bringing his music to lunch – he and Cougar head to the gym and make it just in time. Jensen's uniform still isn't in, so when the Coach gives the order to head outside, he's the first one out. "Track. Run. Go." He instructs and sends the gaggle of teenage boys off for the class.

Cougar and Pooch both lap probably half the class in the first ten minutes, but Jensen isn't far behind them. Another fifteen minutes and the Coach waves them all down to a walk and the two fall back to either side of him.

"So, you sure you can't come with us tonight? The rest of us Losers would like you." Pooch asks him.

"Nah, man. My sister and I, it's just us. She's works nights and I have to watch my niece." Jensen explains again, and again, he really kind of wishes he could, if only so he can hang out with Cougar some more.

"Alright, I get it. It's cool." Pooch says with a soft smile before he falls back even farther to chat with some other boys, leaving he and Cougar alone.

"So," Jensen starts, because he and silence just do not do well together. Ever. "I'm taking Spanish, you know, so I'm gonna figure out what you keep calling me sooner or later. _Payasito_, that's it, right? You're not like cursing at me in Spanish, are you?"

Cougar offers him that all-knowingly half-smirk thing that he does when he sees Jensen's goofy shirts. "_Es posible_…" He says, and then he takes off running again just because he can.

Gym is the last class of the day he has with anyone he's met. He has History next, which he finds interesting and not tremendously difficult. After that, it's off to Spanish - which he is way more invested in now than he had been when he'd picked the class. When he asks the teacher what _payasito_ means because his friend keeps calling him by it, she smiles and laughs. "Clown," she says. "Little clown."

He's still deciding whether or not he finds that insulting or endearing when he wanders into his last class of the day, Computer Tech. It should be the most exciting part of the day and it probably will be once his mind snaps back to reality. As it stands, he's voted for endearing and he has a huge grin on his face as he claims the seat left in the front row.

Jensen floats through class with this information hazing over in his brain, so he almost misses the teacher waving for him to stay when the final bell rings. "Yeah?" He asks as he gathers up his books. "Sorry I wasn't here yesterday, I kind of missed the dodging part of dodgeball in gym yesterday and almost ended up with a concussion in my attempts to… Sorry. Rambling. Yes?"

"Just wanted to make sure you're all caught up on our curriculum, Mr. Jensen. You need any help, you let me know. I've heard good things about you from your last school." The teacher tells him, offering a wide grin even as Jake makes for the door.

"I, ugh, thanks," Jensen says, awkwardly. "I've got the material down already, so no problem there. But, ugh, I have to get home."

The teacher nods and Jensen's out of the room as fast as possible, hoping he can maybe catch Cougar before he disappears off with his friends. Alas, he finds no trace of the cowboy hat in the mad rush to escape the building, so he heads for his locker to collect his backpack and heads out.

So it wasn't as bad a day as he was initially expecting, but the ending left a lot to be desired.


End file.
